Solstice

We're on the cusp of the Solstice, and the garden is thriving. We've continued to have unseasonably mild temperatures, which we appreciate, even if it means the tomatoes aren't ripening super fast. We've decided they are just waiting for the peppers anyway.

I made the first pesto of the season (for me anyway). I had picked one small squash, some chard, and some basil from the farm.



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What We're Eating

Start a pot of water to boil while you rinse the garden-fresh produce.
Peel lots of garlic, then put it in the processor with basil, olive oil, and walnuts. Process, then stir in grated parmesan and salt.
When water boils, add pasta. After 2 minutes add sliced squash. After another minute add sliced chard.
Drain and toss with pesto.

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The pumpkins have sprouted.



On Saturday, I dug out an area to put some bean in along the fence. That area is very gravelly, so I dug a trench and put in some compost to get them started. I think we can tap into the grape water line to water there.

But that seemed like work, and I felt a drop of sweat forming, so I grabbed a cold beer and retired to my outdoor bath to cool off. I opened the Sunset magazine to read an article on "Creating your perfect space"... lol I think I've already done that.



The tomatoes and tomatillos are really filling in. I tied the tomatillos up some, and RickC hit them with some fertilizer, as they are showing a bit of yellowing. We probably need to add iron also.



We ate the first radish. It was really hot, and not at all woody even though it was huge and split.



The pole beans I planted at my house are just popping up. The bush beans that I put in a while ago are starting to flower. Since beans are best planted in stages, we should have a nice succession of beans.



Then, for the Solstice, we went up to Laura's house in Forest Ranch. They've done SO much work, and the place looks fantastic.

Plums!

By now the apricots are done, and the plums are in their full glory.



We've picked a lot of them. This is a tiny portion.



I fooled around with drying or otherwise preserving them, but they are "clingy" and the pits are hard to remove. After making a pink mess all over my kitchen, I decided the best recipe for plums: Eat them!



The corn is coming up well. That area is pretty gravely, as it was where the cars were parked. The corn is really intended to shade the melons so we'll see if we get much in the way of ears.



And I couldn't resist: I had to plant a hill of pumpkins. Nice "Cinderella" style pumpkins will be great for decorating, especially if we get some of that black corn too.



Rick C had bragged that his tomatoes would be ripe by June 15, but the cool weather we've been enjoying dashed his prediction. However, I think I can see the first faint blush of ripening, can you? At least tell Rick you can!

Friday Wrapup

Well once again I got behind by a few days.

On Monday, June 8, I took home another big pile of apricots. Those Chico Bags work great for hauling fruit, as long as you're careful.



As threatened, I set about drying these. Apricots get oxidized, so I used almost a whole jar of lemon juice to rinse them in before drying.



I finshed prepping them and put them in the dryer at about 3:30. I cut each one in half and pitted them. My recipe said to cut them in quarters or turn them inside out, but they came out better when left in halves. The ones that were really icky went in the chicken feed. Other ones were just super ripe and squished, and those I put in the blender. I have a whole jar full of puree to make fruit leather out of.



But by then it was drinking time, so I went to the farm. The recipe said to dry the apricots for 12 to 18 hours, but I didn't get up at 3:30 am, so I just turned it off when I got up the next morning. The apricots still oxidized a bit, which turned them brown, but they taste just fine (according to reports; I don't eat apricots, icky!)

RickC replaced a dead pepper with a Fresno at the end of row 6.



And the plums are almost ripe.



Tuesday was Art Day, so I didn't get any farming in, and on Wed., I took the day off and played The Sims 3 all day.

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Weather Note

The weather has been amazingly cool all week, with some days barely getting to the 70s, and in the high 50s at night. There's a lot of moisture moving thru the air, making it feel very coastal. We even had a little rain last night. The sky has been very dramatic.



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So yesterday, Thurs. June 11, I got back over to the farm.

Bill had gone out and retrieved the big fruit ladder (yay!) and RickC was already picking plums. They are just barely ripe, but that means they aren't squishy yet. They still taste delicious (per reports).



Look at how many there are! Yikes. We're handing them out at our respective work places.



I brought the dried apricots to share around. We ate a bunch right then and there, which is best anyway. I also made some ribs, using an apricot barbecue sauce, which was pretty good.



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What We're Eating

Any bottled barbeque sauce
Equal amount fresh apricot jam
Ribs

Toss the ribs on the barbecue on indirect heat, under 300 degrees.
Cook for about 3 hours, turning occasionally.
Meanwhile, mix the barbecue sauce with the jam.
Turn ribs "right side up" and slather with barbecue jam sauce.
Cook for another half hour or so.
Slice and share in the beer garden!

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The corn RickC planted is up already.



And I didn't think we'd had enough Cantelope/Galia melons sprout up, so I planted some more, and they are up now. Both these pics have my foot in the picture for scale.



The "Big Mama" roma-style tomatoes had been looking poorly: curled up leaves and sparce, leggy growth, but that may just be their habit, because they're setting tomatoes like crazy.



I love how the tomatillos are looking. Pretty soon we'll have more than we do with.



The Rose of Sharons are starting to bloom. Catherine models a blossom.



And I couldn't resist taking a big double shot of the garden in its entirety.

Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend, and I got a little behind on this blog. But I'll catch us up.

Wednesday night, the third, we had an amazing thunderstorm. It was the loudest thunder and brightest lightning I've ever seen. It seemed like it was right over our heads. I was a tiny bit nervous, since we're right under the tallest tree in the neighborhood. I was still awake when it hit, at about 11:30, because I had just bought The Sims 3 and there's nothing like staying up as late as you want with a new game. The thunder actually woke Rick up. We watched it for a bit. There was a good strong rain along with the thunder and lightning.

Thurday was partly overcast, but we took advantage of the cool temperatures to do some work. The Ricks planned some hills for corn.



Then RickC got up in the apricot tree, and picked a bunch of fruit. We had about half a 5-gallon bucket full of usable fruit, with the other half full of "chicken grade" fruit. The chickens loved it!



The peppers are setting.



And the tomatillos are showing some serious fruits.



Friday, I set to work on the apricots. Many of the fruits were squishy ripe, and a bit bug-chewed, so I first blanched them all in boiling water. Then I just squished out the pits, and put the fruits in a pan. I looked up a couple of apricot jam recipes online, and they all said to boil the goop for 25 mins, stirring constantly, so that's what I did. Later I dished it up into 6 shares, each about a pint.



I put the pot of goop aside to cool, and I was just setting out to the farm when it began to sprinkle. It was about 65 degrees, and the rain was steady but it wasn't cold or windy, so we hung out anyway.

Rick C picked his dinner.



Saturday was croquet of course, and I distributed the apricot bounty. Afterward, we went to the farm briefly with David Tigerlad and the gang. Rick and I had Catan later with Titus and Jane, Renny and Cindy, and David and Miho (I won!). The weather cleared up for Sat. and got warmer, although it was still perfect.

Sunday we went up to Centerville for the 49er Fair, then we went to the farm after. Again, perfect weather, but a bit warmer: low 80s. I sat in the tub with a garden magazine...bliss!

We picked more apricots. These were firmer but still sweet and perfect, so we're going to try drying these. Buddy pulled out a food dehydrator he'd bought on clearance, and I've got it at my house to test out. I'll work on that after I finish this post.



This cluster is actually 6 apricots grown together.



We picked a few more baby squash and ate them on the spot.



The grapes are this big now.



And the peppers are actually showing fruit.

Asparagus

Rick C gave me his camera chip, with some pics of his asparagus patch. It's doing quite well! He left in a few of the volunteer tomatillos, but otherwise, most of his garden is in asparagus. He has good winter sun for winter greens as well.



Some of the spears already look eating size.



We're not supposed to pick any until next year, and even then we should be circumspect. But by 2011, we should have all we can eat!

Yesterday at the farm, we didn't do much, even though the weather is deliciously cool still. We've done all we really need to do this year, and we're a little worn out.

So we played some Cornhole.





The tomatillos are setting fruit like crazy.



And the melons are putting out true leaves. Here are the watemelons (3 colors).



The cantelopes and galias:



And the honeydews.



We don't plan to thin the hills at all. They will get plenty of sun and do fine.

We are thinking of putting noodles under the tub rim, so that bugs, spiders, and other icky things can't congregate there. The noodles fit, but we'll need some glue to hold them in. Rick can't resist messing around.

Cages Done

Ok first of all...it might not have been the best idea to go to the farm and drink a bunch of beer after playing croquet and drinking a bunch of beer... Not much got done on Saturday, and on Sunday, some of us were a bit hungover.

Nonetheless, we got the last of the tomato cages done. We decided that the narrow part that we were cutting off would work just fine for the side grape to climb up, so I stapled that up.



The first apricots are ripening now and we ate a couple. In a few days, a lot more should be ripe.



We also got the last of the mulch down. Here is the garden, in two shots, with everything in, mulched, irrigated, and caged.




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Weather Note:
After a week of high 90s, we're having a bit of cooler weather. The forecast calls for highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 50s all this week, with even a chance of showers. It didn't rain on the fair this year, which is very unusual.

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